Dean Ryan Cup final: CBC fall as Ardscoil Rís fight back to win in dire conditions

Ardscoil Rís 1-11 

Christian Brothers College 0-12 

The wait goes on for Christians. For Dean Ryan silverware, or for a long-overdue Harty breakthrough. And this one will sting.

It will sting because it was there in Kilmallock to be won, and because three points across the second half was never going to be enough against an Ardscoil Rís side who found their rhythm on Monday when it mattered most.

Conditions told their own story. The ball stuck, the surface slipped, eight players went to ground in the opening half alone. The muck and the rain shaped the game as much as either team did, yet for 30 minutes CBC seemed to have mastered both.

Tom Huggins thrived on the greasy ball, clipping five first-half placed balls to push the Cork school into a 0-9 to 0-5 half-time lead. Ardscoil had huffed and puffed, Shane Waters and Ian O’Brien keeping them in touch, but CBC’s structure and work rate were sharper, their touch cleaner.

The turning point came long after the interval, but its roots were sown in a slow Ardscoil revival. Waters and Gavin O’Brien split the posts to narrow the gap to two, only for Bobby Power to respond twice in quick succession, the Ballincollig forward firing CBC four clear entering the final quarter, 0-11 to 0-7.

In the interim, the Limerick school had seen three frees stray off target, two from Waters, and one from Ian O’Brien. When Waters stepped over their next effort in the 46th minute, there was no margin left for error. It had to go over.

This one went straight over the black spot. The roar that followed was the sound of momentum turning.

Another 60 seconds passed, and CBC’s four-point lead had evaporated. Clare minor star Ian O’Brien, absent through injury in the semi-final, made his presence felt at last.

A darting run down the flank, a strike so powerful across goal that it cannoned off the crossbar and off the post before going in.

Ardscoil tails were up. Their supporters sensed it, their players fed off it.

A Waters free in the 50th minute. A superb effort from Limerick minor Rian Horgan, that Khaled Abdelrazik did so well to turn over the bar and deny a second Ardscoil goal in the 59th minute, but now the margin was two, a margin such conditions made feel like four.

Conor Stack converted a 65 on the hour, but Ardscoil had the final word. Eamon O’Sullivan, the man who lost his starting spot to O’Brien before throw-in, came off the bench to curl over the insurance score in the 63rd minute and send Ardscoil Rís into raptures.

The pitch invasion and song and dance after showed just what it meant; a second Dean Ryan title in three years.

Another heartbreak for CBC, who had done so much right in the opening half but could not find a foothold once the tide turned.

Earlier, it was CBC who looked the more assured. Ian O’Brien had shown early menace, drawing a free for Waters to level at 0-3 apiece after nine minutes, before adding one himself to nudge Ardscoil ahead. But after Waters’ free on 16 minutes, the Limerick side wouldn’t score again before half-time.

CBC, by contrast, rattled off six unanswered points. Gerard Kingston and Huggins were the chief contributors, the latter landing four frees and a 65 amid the jeers of the Ardscoil crowd.

Ardscoil did have one more goal chance in the opening act, Ian O’Brien denied by a superb David Cronin block, but they would find form on the resumption that Christians had no response for.

Scorers for Ardscoil Rís: S Waters 0-5 (0-4 f), R Horgan 0-3, I O’Brien, G O’Brien, E O’Sullivan 0-1 each, 1-0 own goal.

Scorers for CBC: T Huggins 0-6 (0-4 f, 0-1 65), B Power 0-3, B Hegarty, G Kingston, C Stack (65) 0-1 each.

ARDSCOIL RÍS: S Collins; C Hickey, W Ryan, D Horgan; R Collins, E Hennessy, B Gavin, C Butler, D Moran; I O’Brien, S Waters, C Ryan; G O’Brien, X Nelligan, R Horgan.

Subs: K O’Neill for Butler (48), R Kelliher for R Collins (51), E O’Sullivan for Moran (59).

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS COLLEGE: K Abdelrazik (Castlelyons); D Carroll (Carrigaline), P McCarthy (Blackrock), D Cronin (Blarney); S Riordan (Kilworth), C Stack (Blackrock), C Kelly (Midleton); C McCarthy (Ballincollig), A Maher (Sarsfields); B Power (Ballincollig), B Hayes (Bishopstown), B Hegarty (Ballinora); T Huggins (Sarsfields), G Kingston (Mallow), D O’Donovan (Douglas).

Subs: J Punch (Blackrock) for McCarthy (48), H Rafferty (Liscarroll/Churchtown Gaels) for Hayes (49), J Harrington (Ballincollig) for Cronin (55).

Referee: M Kennedy (Newcastle, Tipperary)